Cats and Dogs
by AddictusLector
Summary: "Who would have thought that a cat and a dog could get alon-" SLAM, "-g." "Spoke too soon."
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I ran through the woods, trying with all my might to catch up to him.

"Edward," I screamed, "Edward please."

As I leapt over a fallen tree truck my shoe caught on a branch, causing me to fall face first into a puddle of mud and dead leaves. I curled into a ball, my ankle throbbed.

"Please Edward... Don't leave me." I sobbed, before finally in a last effort, I pushed myself off the ground and screamed, "EDWARD."

I collapsed, my entire body ached. It felt like my bones were cracking, my muscle's tearing and my blood was boiling. The world suddenly seemed so small. I felt insignificant amongst the giant trees of this ancient woodland. I don't know how long I lay there shivering. Suddenly I heard a loud growling noise. I moaned, mountain lions, of all things to find me it had to be the one thing that reminded me of him. I tried to crawl away from the noise, but I just couldn't seem to get my hands and feet right. Then just as my world began to fade away to true darkness, I felt sharp pricks encircling the back of my neck.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I woke to a comforting purr-like sound. I was laying on something cold and hard, but I was surrounded by a warm fuzzy blanket. I opened my eyes to find two larger ones staring right back at me, my breath caught in the back on my throat.

It was a giant cat thing, like a leopard only black. As I watched, it slowly rose to its feet, arching its back in a stretch and reaching out with its toes, showing off its remarkably long and sharp claws. Then, just as I thought I might have a panic attack, it changed. Its tail shrank back into its spine, its bones creaked and groaned while changing position and shape, and its fur receded into its body. Finally, there before me stood a man.

"Hey Bells."

"Dad!?"

A/N: Sorry for such incredibly short chapters... I'm just not sure if I want to continue this story, it just suddenly came to me. Please, let me know if you like it so far.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Yeah. Look Bells, we need to talk, but first I need you to tell me what happened in those woods. 'Cos I'm getting the feeling you weren't the one who left me that note."

"I didn't leave a note, it must have been Ed- Edward." I replied, tears welling up in my eyes, my Dad came towards me, arms open.

"It's going to be okay Bella, it's going to get better."

"I loved him Dad and he just left me out there, despite all of his warnings to stay out of the woods 'cos they were dangerous. He said he didn't want me, that I wasn't good enough."

"I know you did Bells. You know I loved your Mom. I loved her so much, and she had given me the greatest gift in the entire world. Yet she just didn't love me. Not enough anyway. I wasn't enough for her. She wanted more. But that doesn't mean I wasn't good enough, just that she wanted something different out of life. You were more than good enough for Edward, in fact you were probably too good. I know what he and his family are Bella. I knew from the start," I looked up at him shocked, "I just wanted you to be happy, and at the time, he made you so happy. So I kept my mouth shut. Now, I'm starting to regret that. But at the same time, you have grown so much over this last year. You not having to look after someone all the time has obviously helped, we all know how dependant Renee was on you. You were able to be who you wanted to be. I saw how much you felt like you belonged and it made you shine. I'm sorry he has taken that away from you, but maybe it's for the best, at least for now. I think it's time you learnt just who the Swan family are, and maybe, in a few years, Edward will return because he will if you are truly his mate and you can be together again."

I stood there, in my father's arms, astounded both by what he had said and how much he had said. Never, in my whole life had I heard him speak so much in one go, and yet, I'd never felt so close to him either.

"Thanks Dad, I love you."

"I love you too Bells." We gave each other a final squeeze, before Dad pulled away and slapped his hands together, "Now, onto the Swan family history."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Most people believe that humans are at the top of the food chain, however, Vampires prove that that isn't true. Vampires help to 'control' the human population. However, what's there to control the Vampire population. The answer is Wolves. Shape shifter Wolves. You know the Quileute legends Bells."

"It's how I figured out about the Cullen's," I said nodding along to what Charlie was saying.

"Yeah, well there ALL true. Some of the Quileute's carry a special gene which allows them to sense when Vampires are near, and then to protect the Tribe, the gene enables them to change into Wolves, giant Wolves."

As I listened to my father things began to click, all the comments the Cullen's made about the Res and the warnings Billy Black had given me.

"Now, the Wolves don't really need a 'predator' to keep their population down because the gene only activates if a Vampire is close by. Instead the Wolves and Vampires have something else. Something that stops the Wolves from killing all of the Vampires and something that stops the Vampires from wiping out all the Wolves. I mean sure, they have their own natural defences. Vampire venom can kill a Wolf in under ten minutes if it gets into their blood, and Wolf teeth and claws can slice through a Vampires skin like its hot butter. But sometimes, something else is required. A balancer or mediator. Someone who can stop the two from going at each other so much, that by the time it's over, the entire world is near enough destroyed."

"Has that happened before?"

"Oh Yeah. Have you ever wondered were all the myths come from? They started during or after one of the Great Wars. See, it's hard to hide that you're a Vampire or a Wolf when you're fighting each other all the time, especially in public. There have been some Great Battles over the last few centuries, but the last Great War happened a few thousand years ago, but that one time was different to any previous. That time the world fought back."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"What most Vampires and Wolves don't know, is that Vampires weren't just suddenly there. They are what they are through evolution, and not of people, but of a disease. See Vampires aren't really a species, there humans that have been infected."

"Like zombies," I snickered.

"Ha, yeah Bells, exactly like zombies." Charlie boomed out, his chuckles echoing through the dark, basement-like room.

"The Wolves are a different species, well kinda. Their human with some unlockable extras. They have a stronger connection with the spirits than regular humans. We Swans on the other hand, have a closer connection to with the Earth, mother nature, whatever. I can't remember the details, I'll have to get Swan family book out and y'esh that book is terrible to read, I don't think even you'll like it Bells."

My Dad knew how much I loved reading, so for him to say that, well it scared me a little and I must have looked it too. Charlie chuckled before continuing, "So, the last Great War. From what I read it was torturous for Vampires, Wolves, humans and any other living thing. The Swan family at the time were called the Magi Terra, meaning Earth Magic, and funnily enough could perform 'Magic' using the Earths power. Anyway, the book says something like, one day the Earth had had enough and in an effort to end the War allowed its Magic users to change. I'm not sure if our ancestors say that just so that we don't blame them for casting a spell or whether I just read it wrong."

"We'll get the book out and read it one day, together." I smiled at him.

"Sounds great, Bells. So, the Swan family was given the ability to change. Really, who ever made the choice of animal was genius. It's the best of both worlds. Vampires generally stay in ones and twos because any more than that and they start ripping each other up out of competition, unless of course there's a War, and they are fast, agile and strong. The Quileute Wolves only ever come in a pack of three of more, because any less than that and they can't kill any more than two Vampires without injuries or death, also Wolves work better as a team than on their own. They are also strong, but were the Vampires are very agile, the Wolves aren't, they make that up with speed and jaw strength though. Both Vampires and Wolves however require a leader. For the Wolves they have their alpha and the Vampires have the Volturi. Also, they both have two mind frames, Wolves have human and wolf, Vampires have blood-thirsty monster and their 'human' mind. We Swans have one mind, we are strong, fast, agile and independent, but to those we love, no matter the number, we will protect them with our lives. Cats have always been known for these skills, and these skills are what is needed to stop another Great War from occurring. We were given the ability to shift into a Panther." Charlie finished his speech with a proud look on his face.

"Tell me more about us."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

"Okay. So," Charlie began, when suddenly an incredibly loud howl rang throughout the room, Charlie sat up straight listening intently. He then turned back to me and hurriedly whispered, "The Wolves are nearby and there's two of them. They must have found out the Cullen's have left, and come to mark Forks as theirs. Possessive nutters. We need to go upstairs, pretend everything is normal. Billy will probably call soon as well. He'll be gushing about the Cullen's, no doubt." Charlie led me towards one side of the room where a short rope was hanging down. He pulled it, opening up a little trap door. He turned to me smiling, "You wanna try to jump up Bells?"

I grinned, "Yeah," walking towards the trap door.

"Right, just don't put too much strength into it or you'll go straight through the roof. It's almost like a little hop, just panther style."

I crouched slightly directly under the trap door, then jumped and landed in the downstairs toilet. I turned to look down at my Dad.

He shrugged, "It was the easiest place to hide a trap door, this way I could say it was a fault in the tiles and grouting."

As I stepped out into the hallway, he jumped up and followed me, closing the trap door and toilet door behind him.

"Now, act normal. They'll be within hearing distance soon." Dad whispered, turning towards the lounge. I stood there staring after him, unbelieving of what had happened over the past four hours or so. I had been dumped by my Vampire boyfriend, left in the 'dangerous' woods, found by my shifter father, found out I could also change into a Panther, and I had been told about the Swan families origin.

I hummed to myself, before walking into the kitchen, calling behind me, "You hungry?"

"Starving, you want me to order pizza?"

"No, I'll just put some steaks on, and make up some salad or something."

"Okay, Bells."

While making our late dinner, I listened intently to my surroundings, everything in the house was loud and irritating, but the pounding of footsteps that I could hear getting louder by the second was what caught my attention. That must be the Wolves. Then I heard an engine, a car engine, and it sounded like it was on our driveway. I heard more footsteps and what sound like-, "Hey Billy, what are you doing here so late?" a wheelchair, Billy was here and if Billy was here Jake or one of the other boy's on the Res were too.

"You. You called me, said Bella was missing, that you were going looking for her. 'I'll call you in an hour' you said 'I'm getting really worried' you said and what did I get, no bloody phone call that's what. So there I was already worried out of my mind, and then Jared here comes running into my house screaming the Cullen's had gone! What was I supposed to think!? So up here I come, and what are you doing watching a BLOODY BASEBALL GAME! A PHONE CALL WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE! Hi, Bella sweetie. So good to see you ALIVE!" Billy boomed out, before turning to greet me, pointing his last word a Charlie, who just rolled his eyes muttering a 'Sorry'.

"Hi Billy, sorry for worrying you and forcing you to come all this way."

"Not your fault. Your Dad shoulda given me a call."

"I'm making some steaks, salad and macaroni cheese. Would you like to stay for dinner, I made plenty?"

"We would love to Bella. Thank you." He politely replied, before turning demonic eyes back to Charlie, "And to make it worse, you're watching a live game with our team playing and didn't invite me."

I chuckled at the two of them before walking back to the kitchen to finish off dinner. A few minutes later, I heard someone follow me into the kitchen, "Bella, right?"

I turned, "Yeah. Jared, right?"

"Yeah," he chuckled, "So where did you go?"

"Sorry," I replied confused.

"When you went missing, where were you?"

"My, umm, my boyfriend and I took a walk out to the woods, where he then dumped me, told me he never loved me, that I wasn't good enough, and left me there. I tried running after him, but couldn't and ended up getting lost deep in the woods. My dad found me and brought me home."

"Wow. That's… bad. Who saying something like that? What was he trying to do, break your soul as well as your heart? Who was he?"

"Edward Cullen."

"Huh, makes sense." Jared replied, rubbing his hands together which had started shaking. I looked at him, suspicious. I took a deep breath in through my nose, Wolf. There were two outside, nearby as well. I could hear them growling, odd.

That made three Wolves, I wonder if there were anymore.

"-Dad find you?"

"Sorry?" I asked, the question had interrupted my thoughts.

"You said your Dad had found you, but you were lost deep in the woods, how did he find you on his own."

"Umm, well," I could hear Charlies breathing stop, "He's a police officer."

Jared stood there looking confused, I focused on my heart rate trying to keep it steady. If he was a Wolf he would be able to tell if I was lying.

"He's a police officer in a town surrounded by woods, I suppose you have to be at least semi-capable of tracking someone through them."

"Good point."

"Dinner's ready," I called out, glad I had dodged that bullet, setting all the food onto the bench, buffet-style.

As Dad walked in he gave me a smile, and I knew then, everything would be okay.

A/N: Not sure how often updates will be after the next chapter or so... Reviews help, they are so inspiring, no matter how simple. Hope you like.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

"Goodbye Billy, Jared." I mumbled out my goodbyes.

"Bye Bella." They both replied.

"Bye, Jared. See ya, Billy." Charlie said patting his friend on the shoulder.

We watched them hop into the car, when Billy called out, "Charlie, you coming fishing with me and Harry this weekend?"

I could see my Dad about to object, "You bet he is, you couldn't keep him away."

"Alright, see ya on Saturday."

"Bye," we both called out.

After walking back inside Dad turned to me, "Why'd you do that, I was going to ask you if you want to go for a run this weekend."

"That would be suspicious. I mean, when have you ever turned down a weekend of fishing?"

He looked ready to deny it, so I raised an eyebrow at him, "Yeah okay. Alright you win."

I smirked before skipping to the kitchen to clean up, "How about we go for a run after I finish cleaning up. Enough theory for today, why not skip straight to practical."

"Come on then, I'll give you a hand. Then we can spend longer out there." He called, walking after me.

By the time we had finished tiding the kitchen it was eleven o'clock. We walked out to the woods and continued until we were out of view from the street and house. We found a log to sit on. It was amazing how much better my senses had gotten, I could see in the dark now and hear sounds from at least five miles away.

"I know we said no more theory, but there are some things that you need to know before you phase again."

I nodded, turning my attention onto him.

"We generally watch over the Quileute pack, as they are the only actual pack left that we know of. See, we have this ability, an instinct that enables us to know were all Wolves and Vampires are at a time when we are needed. The last person to watch over a pack was my father. I don't think he ever actually told them who he was, but he was watching when the Cullen's and Quileute's made their treaty, making sure that nothing got out of hand. Know, as you know, we change into panthers. The colour depends on who we are, our personality, and what we symbolise. Generally we are just a version of the regular yellow-gold with black. But sometimes, we a rare black colour, and even rarer white. My father was an extremely pale yellow with deep black rosettes. He was a one the rare end of normal. I am a very dark yellow, almost black, with black rosettes. Now, all Swans, in order to change safely, must change before they turn 25. This is because when we first change we are in 'baby' form, and as time goes by we grow into 'adult' form. If someone changed after they turned 25, they never quite reach adult form because we stop growing and aging at 25. We can choose to age though, as I did because I had you."

I nodded, understanding this new onslaught of information. Suddenly a thought came to me.

"This is how you've been able to eat junk food for so long and stay fit, isn't it?"

Charlie looked sheepish, "Yeah."

I laughed.

"Now, on to the change, you will be quite small. When I stand my shoulder will be at about 5 foot, fully grown we are just a bit smaller than the Wolves in height. When you phase, your shoulder will probably only be at about a foot. Another benefit is we, unlike the Wolves, change phase fully clothed. So, to phase, think of animal, panther, protection, balance. Give it a go."

I closed my eyes, breathing deeply. Animal. Panther. Protection. Balance. Animal. Panth-. I felt it again. I kneeled over. My bones were cracking, my muscle's tearing and my blood felt like it was boiling. Finally, it was over.

_Bells, open your eyes. _I could hear echoing through my mind. It was my Dad.

I opened my eyes to see paws. I looked up to see Charlies head tilted towards me. He gave me a nudge.

_You alright Bells? Feeling steady? _He rumbled at me. I could _feel_ his concern for me.

I leapt, jumping at one of his paws.

_This is so amazing._ I giggled back.

His growling purr echoed through the clearing, but in my mind I could hear him laughing. _You wanna go for a run?_

_Race ya. _I called back to him as I shot off. He waited though, until I was quite a distance away from him before he sprinted after me. He caught up to me far too quickly for my liking.

_You're still a baby, Bells. You'll be much quicker when you're a bit older. _He reminded me. I was still pouting though. _You know Bells, you are a beautiful panther. Your coats pure white. _I looked at myself through his mind. I was small, only just big enough to jump over some of the bigger fallen trees. I was sure that you could spot me from a mile away though. I almost glowed from how white I was.

_Bells you might want to slow up a bit, we are about to enter Wolf territory, we need to be careful now._ Just as he said this I caught a glimpse of something enormous catching through the woods at a speed that was not much slower than my Dad's. It stopped suddenly, looking in our direction, though it didn't seem to be able to see us though as I had hidden close to the ground next to a tree and Dad blended in with the dark foliage. It took a step in our direction, before its head snapped round to the right. It let off a thundering growl before shooting off.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

_What's he doing?_ I asked Dad, _can we follow him?_

_Use your senses Bells, you tell me._ I took a deep breath and listened carefully. A very sweet scent was being wafted this way by the wind. _Vampire_, I whispered beginning to trot towards the scent.

_To the trees Bells, we are less likely to be detected._ Charlie called, already leaping up into the trees, almost disappearing in the branches and leaves.

I leapt after him, my small body causing me to lag behind a little. When I finally reached the branches I saw Charlie waiting for me.

We took off, springing from branch to branch almost silently. I could hear the rousing growls and snarls from the Wolves, each Wolf egging on the others. I could also hear the rapid footsteps of the fleeing Vampire.

The trees were being to thin out, and our cover was quickly disappearing. Ahead of us I could hear what sounded like rock being cut up.

_They've caught it. We're coming up to a clearing, slow up. _Charlie rumbled quietly. Just as I leapt onto a slightly lower branch, hoping to get a closer look, the branch broke away beneath me causing a loud snap to echo through the clearing and me to go tumbling to the ground. Somehow my legs ended up under me.

_Huh, looks like cats do land on their feet._ My brain all fuzzy from the rush.

_BELLA! A Wolf is coming, I can't get to you. You look like a normal sized adult panther. I don't. So, you're gonna need to act like a real panther._ Charlie quickly spoke.

_Okay._ I yowled back to him just as the Wolf came into my view. I hissed, my hackles raising.

The Wolf looked stunned. It was then that at the same time Charlie and I remembered about my rare colour.

_He must have told the others, 'cause they are coming to._

I hissed again, slowly backing away, when another Wolf appeared behind me.

_THEY'RE BOXING ME IN! LIKE I'M A BLOODY PLAYTHING! _I yelled at my father, he chuckled. Actually chuckled. I snarled.

Suddenly, one of the Wolves changed back.

"Look at it. It's white. Never seen one of them before," he snickered, "Come here ya weird thing."

He came towards me, hand out stretched. Suddenly his eyes met mine. He stood there dumbstruck. The other Wolves heads whipped around looking at him in surprise. I was starting to get worried when a thundering snarl rippled through the small clearing. Everyone's head snapped up towards the sound which was coming from where I knew my father was.

_THAT BLOODY BASTARD! NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU SON OF A BITCH!_ I shied away from his murderous voice. Which was impossible since it was inside my mind.

Before I knew what was happening, my father had leapt from his hiding place, clamped his jaw around the back of my neck and taken off, my body instinctively curling upwards to form a loose ball.

_What happened?_ I asked.

_Bells,_ he growled, _only you would cause and attract so much trouble._

_What?! What did I do?_

He ignored me until he was satisfied we had lost the Wolves and had put enough distance between us and them. He then cautiously lowered his head to the ground, carefully releasing his grip on me, before lying down on the ground. I turned to look at him.

He sighed, _the Quileute Wolves are similar to actual wolves in the way that they have mates. Though unlike actual wolves, the Quileute Wolves have destined, soulmate type mates, their imprint. They say it's like, you look into her eyes and suddenly the entire world disappears. She's it. She becomes the centre of their universe. They never actually _see _another girl again. She's perfect for them in every way. One of their theory's is that the 'imprinted' female is also an extremely good gene carrier and would be the best possible choice for that Wolf in terms of passing on the gene. _

_Right, and this has to do with what happened back there because_… Suddenly things were looking not to straight forward.

_We panthers don't have set, destined mate. We get the more human experience, you meet someone, fall in love, get married, have kids, blah blah blah. Only once in our entire history have one of our kind had a 'destined' mate, and that was only because their mate was a Vampire, but it was during a Great Battle that they found each other. They didn't survive. Thankfully, our many times great-uncle had a sister, who married a man named Chester Swan. That's another thing about our family, very rarely do we have more than one child, and generally, or at least for the last thousand or so years, that child has been a boy. Looks like you've broke that record, Bells._

I smiled at him half-heartedly.

_Anyway, so. Back there in the clearing. That was a Wolf finding his mate._

I was shocked, and yet strangely proud.

_Yeah, you're going to be proud. Its instinct. It's the panther in you, knowing that you and your mate have extremely good genes. _He rolled his eyes.

I snickered, a panther rolling his eyes. You didn't see that every day.

_So what do I do now?_ I asked

He snorted, standing up and shaking out his fur. Then turned towards where I assume our house was.

_Your call, Bells. Just know, strong genes or not. I'm not ready to be a Grandpa, yet._

I huffed, _cos that's so helpful dad_, this time rolling my own eyes, before bounding after him.


End file.
